


Missing Scenes: None Like it Hot

by RebeccaB



Category: MASH (TV)
Genre: Missing Scene, Other, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:02:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24694957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebeccaB/pseuds/RebeccaB
Summary: When did Hawkeye and BJ first notice that Radar had something wrong with his tonsils?
Kudos: 15





	Missing Scenes: None Like it Hot

**Author's Note:**

> I always felt like part of the episode was missing. Here's what I think happened. It's my first fanfic, so please be nice! And yes, I will be watching M*A*S*H forever!

It was that time of year again, summer in Korea, and Uijeongbu was a nice, cool 100 degrees. Everyone at M*A*S*H* 4077 was sweaty, and it smelled like it. 

Pierce and Hunnicutt walked into the dining hall wearing their usual summer uniform of a t-shirt and shorts. Not exactly regulation, but they never were. They grabbed their food and went to sit down with Radar and Klinger. 

Pierce picked up a bite of what looked like meatloaf.“This food looks worst than I feel.” He sniffed it. “Smell it Beej, smell it. It smells like an onion that was left under a bunk for a month.”

“I hate when you do that Hawk. I can’t eat this now!”

“It’s true! What do you guys think?” He asked Klinger and Radar as he brandished his fork towards them. 

“Put that away, Sir” replied Klinger with a disgusted look on his face.

“I don’t mind it” said Radar, quietly. His voice sounded wrong, like he had something stuck in his throat. 

Hawkeye and BJ shot Radar a concerned look, but didn’t say anything. They didn’t like playing doctor when they weren’t asked to, even if they thought something was wrong. Radar would let them know if he needed help. He trusted them. 

“Did you captains hear about Major Winchester getting the Colonel all riled up?” Started Klinger. “Apparently, he called some big wig general in Tokyo to ask him to get him transferred, and the general called back to yell at Potter. Boy, was he mad!”  
Radar started to laugh, but stopped when a pained look crossed his face. He took a sip of water, but he made an even worst face when he tried to swallow. BJ and Hawkeye glanced at each other. They both knew what the other one was thinking. An unconcerned Klinger started cleaning up his tray. 

“I’m on patrol duty in ten minutes. See you guys later” and he was off. 

Hawkeye took a look at Radar’s tray.

“You ate less than me, and usually you can eat me under the table. Not hungry?” Asked Hawkeye.

“Not really” said Radar. “Nothing seems appetizing right now”.

“That’ll happen when your throat hurts” said BJ with a concerned look at Radar.

Both Hawkeye and BJ stared at Radar, waiting for him to respond. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sir” responded Radar. His voice sounding just as bad as before. 

“Are you sure?” Said Hawkeye. 

Radar nodded. 

“Well, BJ and I are here if you change your mind.”

“Thank you, Sirs. But I’m going to go back to work now”. Radar picked up his tray and left. 

Hawkeye glanced at BJ. He looked upset. 

“We can’t help him if he doesn’t want to be helped” said Hawkeye. “He’ll come around eventually”

“I hope so. I wouldn’t want whatever he has in his throat to spread anywhere else.”

“Don’t worry Beej. We’ll keep and eye on him, and if it gets any worst before he comes to see us himself, we’ll very gently convince him that he needs our help.” 

“If you say so, Hawk.”

They finished eating in mostly silence. The heat really did put a damper on any good moods. 

As Radar walked back to his tent, he was thinking about dinner, and how sore his throat was. He knew Hawkeye and BJ only wanted what was best for him, and they were the best doctors he knew, but that didn’t erase the memory of what happened last time he went to the doctor for a sore throat, in Ottumwa. That doctor nearly chocked him trying to examine his throat and then testing him for strep throat. Only for it to come back negative and for him to have no idea what was wrong with Radar, saying maybe surgery would fix it. His throat hurt even worst after that. What was the point of getting it checked out if it was going to hurt even worst after. It ended up going away on its own last time anyway. He’ll just have to stay away from the captains for a while, until he was better. 

Once he got to his office he began to get changed. Why was he suddenly shivering. It was way too hot for that! He put on his PJs and got into his bed, suddenly too tired to do any work. He was so cold he even got under the covers. “I’ll feel better tomorrow”, he thought to himself before falling asleep. 

The next morning, BJ and Hawkeye walked into the dining hall for breakfast. They scanned the room, but couldn’t find Radar. 

“He’s usually the first one here.” said Hawkeye. “This doesn’t feel right. I’m going to go check his bunk.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. Weren’t you the one telling me not to bother him yesterday?” asked BJ. “I’m sure there’s a perfectly logical explanation for why he’s not here. Maybe he came early and already finished eating.”

“No, something doesn’t feel right. I know what I said yesterday, but I changed my mind. Are you coming with me?”

“We’ll I’m not going to let you bother him alone.”

They grabbed some toast and headed towards Radar’s office. 

They walked in and found Radar asleep, under the covers, sweating. 

“See, he looks like he’s running a temperature” said Hawkeye in a concerned tone.

BJ walked over and shook Radar’s shoulder lightly. 

“Hey, Radar, it’s us”

Radar stirred a little, and then woke up suddenly, sitting up.

“What’s wrong” he asked, his voice sounding even worst than yesterday. 

“You weren’t at breakfast and Hawkeye wanted to make sure you were OK.”

“That’s nice of you captains, but I’m fine, really.” said Radar, and then brought his hand up to his mouth to mask a cough. The cough wasn’t concerning, but the look of pain that crossed his face after was. 

“Why won’t you let us help you, Radar?” Asked Hawkeye as he brought Radar’s office chair towards the bed and sat down. 

BJ sat on the end of Radar’s bed and looked at Radar as compassionately as he could. 

“There is nothing wrong with me Hawkeye, honest”

“You’re not fooling us, Radar” said BJ, calmly, but firmly.

Radar looked down for a minute. He was trying to figure out what to say to the captains. Clearly there was no hiding that the was in pain, and probably has a fever. 

“My throat’s been sore for the last few days” he said quietly, almost to himself. “I didn’t want to tell you guys because of what happened last time I had a sore throat and went to the doctor back home. He just made it feel worse.” He kept his head down, and didn’t say anything else. 

Hawkeye and BJ looked at each other, half relived and half concerned. 

Hawkeye started, “Radar, you trust us, right?”

Radar slightly nodded his head. 

BJ continued, “then you know we wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.”

Radar nodded again. 

“Will you please let us help you!” said Hawkeye.  
Radar shrugged. 

“Ok, how about this. We’ll give you something for the your fever and you can come see us in post-op whenever you’re ready.”

They left a couple pills and some water by his bed and went to start their shifts in post-op.

Radar took the medicine and fell back asleep. When he woke up an hour later he felt better. His chills were gone and his throat hurt a little less. He knew the captains were only trying to help. He knew they were different than the doctor back home, and and if he trusted them with his life, he might as well trust them with his throat. He got dressed and walked into post-op.

BJ saw him first. He was standing by a patients bed holding his chart and writing his notes. “How are you feeling, Radar? Did the pills help with your fever?”

“They did Sir, thank you. I’ll take you up on that offer now, if you guys have time?”

“We always have time for a sick friend, Radar”

BJ finished up his note, and then took Radar to the exam room in the back, where Hawkeye was checking out some slides under the microscope. 

“Hey, Radar! I guess this means you changed your mind?” he said with a kind smile.

Radar nodded and then went to sit on the exam table. 

“So you said this happened before?” asked BJ as he sat down next the exam table. 

Radar nodded

“How long ago?” asked Hawkeye from his seat at the microscope.

“About five years ago. And my throats been sore every now and then since then”

“And what did the doctor in Ottumwa diagnose you with five years ago?”

“Nothing. He stuck and long cotton swab down my throat and then told me a few days later that it was nothing, but I might need surgery if it kept hurting. I was so scared of the surgery and my throat hurt more after the test then before, so I never said anything about it again.”

“Ok, well how about you let us see what’s wrong and then we’ll let you know what we think.” said BJ. 

BJ reached up to feel Radar’s forehead. “You still have a bit of a fever.”

Hawkeye grabbed a thermometer from next to him and passed it to BJ who had stood up to examine radar. 

“Under your tongue” he said as he held the thermometer close to Radar’s mouth. 

Radar opened his mouth just enough to let BJ place the thermometer under his tongue. 

“I’m going to feel your neck now and see if your glands are swollen, OK?” he asked. 

Radar nodded.

BJ slowly reached for Radar’s neck. He started at the back, under his jaw, and then he moved his hands forwards slowly, feeling all along the underside of Radar’s jaw and neck as he moved. 

“Definitely some swelling.”

He took the thermometer out of Radar’s mouth. “100.2” he told Hawkeye. 

“Not too bad, but not great” said Hawkeye. 

“Can I look at your throat now?” Asked BJ again. He was being very careful not to scare Radar. They couldn’t help him if he was scared of them.

Radar nodded reluctantly. 

BJ turned around and picked up a tongue depressor and a light. “OK, open wide and stick out your tongue” 

The problem was obvious: Radar’s tonsil were inflamed. 

“I’m going to use the tongue depressor to push on the sides of your mouth, ok?” 

Radar nodded.

BJ continued to examine Radar’s tonsils. Finally, he withdrew the tongue depressor. “Hawk, do you want to take a look?”

Hawkeye got up from his seat at the microscope where he had been patiently observing BJ examine Radar. 

“Do you mind if I take a look too, Radar?”

Radar shook his head. “Go ahead” 

Hawkeye took the tongue depressor and light from BJ. Radar was waiting with his mouth open. Hawkeye only looked for a few seconds and then put the light in his pocket and threw the tongue depressor in the garbage.

“Your tonsils are pretty swollen. Did the doctor say anything last time about your tonsils?” Asked BJ.

“I don’t think so” answered Radar. 

“Tonsillitis makes sense with the story you told us, so I’m going to assume that that’s what happened last time. It doesn’t look like strep throat, so we won’t need to test you for that.” 

Radar looked relieved. 

“I’ll start you on some penicillin and hopefully the infection goes away, but eventually your tonsils will need to come out, maybe even this week if the penicillin doesn’t work.”

BJ walked to the medicine supply cabinet to get the shot of penicillin ready. Radar suddenly looked scared, and Hawkeye noticed. 

“Radar, do you trust us? Would we ever hurt you? Are we not the best surgeons you know?” That last bit he said with a smile. 

“I do Sir and you are Sir” answered Radar quietly.

“Then trust me when I say that if you do need surgery it will be the best tonsil job we’ve ever done, especially since Colonel Potter will probably be standing over us watching our every move” Hawkeye chuckled.  
A smile creeped onto Radar’s face.

“Thanks Hawkeye for trying to make me feel better.”

“Trying? Do you not feel better?”

“I do, a little.”

BJ walked back over to the exam table with an alcohol swab and a syringe full of penicillin. Radar started to roll up his sleeve.

“Sorry Radar, but this goes in your butt” BJ said with a laugh. 

“Does it have to?” whined Radar.

“Unfortunately for both of us, yes it does.”

Radar hopped off the table and pulled down the side of his pants. 

“Can you do this quick BJ, I don’t like being exposed like this.”

“No problem!”

BJ quickly wiped the area with alcohol and gave Radar the shot of penicillin. 

“There you go. All done!” He said as he withdrew the needle.

Radar pulled his pants back up. 

“Thank you both for being so nice to me. And I know you’re both great surgeons, but I hope the penicillin works because I don’t want to have surgery.”

“We hope so too, for your sake” said Hawkeye. 

But of course, that’s not what happened…

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it!


End file.
